Tilda Swinton – Sleeping In The Name Of Art at MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art was host to Tilda Swinton, who was reprising one of her less taxing roles. This wasn’t on screen, but rather sleeping in a glass box as art-lovers and confused wanderers alike gawped in.

In a brief description of the work, a notice by the installation states: "The Maybe 1995/2013. Living artist, glass, steel, mattress, pillow, linen, water and spectacles." The MoMA said in a statement: "An integral part of The Maybe's incarnation at MoMA in 2013 is that there is no published schedule for its appearance, no artist's statement released, no museum statement beyond this brief context, no public profile or image issued. Those who find it chance upon it for themselves, live and in real – shared – time: now we see it, now we don't." Swinton has taken on this piece before, first performing it at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 1995 where 22,000 people saw her nap. In 1996, she performed it in the Museo Barracco in Rome.

Tilda – as we call her – has become known as one of the finest actors of her generation, starring in mainstream films, but lending her hand to arthouse projects too. She won an Oscar in 2008 for best supporting actress for her role in Michael Clayton, and will next be seen in Snowpiercer, a futuristic, post-apocalyptic drama set on a train.